Professional Development, Educational Technology and Getting to the Deep End

Photo by Curtis Palmer

Have you ever heard a fellow teacher groan at the mention of an upcoming professional development seminar? I have - many, many times. I think for many teachers, a different approach to professional development is needed. When it comes to educational technology and PD, wouldn’t it make sense to try to get ahead of the curve, so that we are not reacting or responding way after the fact? There is already a sense, for some, that as digital immigrants we are like a huge flock of educators sitting on the edge of the water whole our digital native students are splashing happily away.

So what are we doing? Looking for waterwings? Still trying to find the most flattering swimwear? Or are we almost ready to start leading more swim classes?

Professional development for integrating technology is an absolute necessity if we believe that education can be improved greatly by embracing the positive learning aspects of web 2.0. In my last blog, I wrote about how many teachers have not been able to get out of the shallow end for numerous reasons. Christine R has also written some thought-provoking words about problematic PD, identifying 4 different areas of concern:

-Out of Date Professional Development
-Lack of time to play and plan
-Lack of collaboration
-Lack of differentiated PD

What are some of the roads to improving ed tech PD?

Last year I blogged about how using blogs for/as PD may be one way to individualize and move toward more relevant educator learning. But in a wider sense, what kind of general changes in approach could lead to more constructive PD?

I’ve been thinking about various professional development opportunities I have been involved in over the years. From cavernous rooms with one speaker to smaller spaces with many presenters, most of us have had experiences with occasionally informative gatherings, and downright irrelevant moments. But what about those PD opportunities where you heard some good ideas and suggestions, but weren’t able to continue one-on-one discussions about making the ideas reality in your school? Without time to revisit the PD concepts and create workable versions that fit the situation for you and your colleagues, you may have moved on and put it on the backburner. The problem of “Lack of collaboration” as defined by Christine R above is one I’ve seen many times. How can we fix it?

Camilla Gagliolo wrote a brief-but-good article entitled Help Teachers Mentor One Another, in which she states:

“Powerful learning takes place when teachers teach other teachers in a peer-to-peer network. The creation of a cadre of teacher leaders serving as peer coaches will help power up the professional learning community and provide differentiated professional development offerings.”

I know when I think about PD that I found helpful and continued to use, the times when I learned it on a one-on-one basis come to mind immediately. I felt much more comfortable learning from a colleague that I was friendly with, or even one I was slightly acquainted with, and it makes sense – just as my teaching is more helpful when I know my students, my mentor can skip what he knows I can already do and go right to the essential learning – no need for unnecessary repetition, going off on irrelevant tangents to my learning goals, and so on. Gagliolo goes on to give few suggestions, and here’s one I really like:

“[C]onsider creating a set of laminated “keys” on a key ring containing information on expert mentors/coaches in the learning community. Each key lists the name of an integration tool and the name of the teacher/mentor who is the local expert.”

Cool idea!!!!!! As a teacher who has worked in different schools on terms as short as two weeks to a year for the past three years, I am constantly asking, “Who the local tech guy/gal?”

The idea of creating PD that works for the learner needs to be much more in the forefront of those creating PD opportunities – that’s why I see collaboration and mentorship as offering many more chances for individualization and success. Judi Harris has created a series of articles outlining the need for learner-driven PD under the banner of “One Size Doesn’t Fit All”. In the first article, Harris notes that PD creators need to “know your teacher-students' professional learning needs and preferences”, as well as stating that educators need:

-continued on-site support as they experiment with new tools and techniques in their classrooms to ensure continued and productive use of new tools and ideas.

-30 hours of focused professional development on average to change teachers' professional practice.

In the second article, Harris echoes Gaglio’s suggestion for teacher technology mentoring:

Collaborative learning ETPD also can take the form of mentoring, in which someone knowledgeable in a particular content area or instructional approach works with individuals or small groups of teachers wishing to learn more in the mentor’s area of expertise. Peer coaching, also with either individuals or groups, can similarly occur either face-to-face or online.

And finally, Harris asserts that teacher professional development needs to be teacher-oriented:

“One of the keys to effective ETPD design is to match models to goals and both to participating teachers’ needs, preferences, and characteristics.”

I believe that collaborative learning, especially mentoring, is a great way to help teachers move towards more productive educational technology professional development. I’ll leave the last word to a report from the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory:

“A professional development curriculum that helps teachers use technology for discovery learning, developing students' higher-order thinking skills, and communicating ideas is new and demanding and thus cannot be implemented in isolation (Guhlin, 1996). In addition to working in pairs or teams, teachers need access to follow-up discussion and collegial activities, as required of professionals in other fields (Lockwood, 1999). Teachers also need time to discuss technology use with other teachers, whether face to face, through e-mail, or by videoconferencing (David, 1996). A networked computer on every teacher's desk can allow for greater interaction between educators. The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (1996) suggests that school districts find creative ways to build teacher networks so that teachers have additional opportunities to discuss the new instructional methods that technology promotes.”